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Women in Horror Month: Book Review: Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power

cover art for Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power by Sady Doyle

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Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power by Sady Doyle

Melville House Publishing, 2019

ISBN-13 : 978-1612197920

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Sady Doyle has written a witty, chatty, insightful, and angry book on female monstrosity. Her premise is that women who claim ownership over their voices and bodies are constructed as monsters because they violate the social and biological norms that threaten men’s control over them- they are a threat to the patriarchy. Doyle identifies three key roles women fill in our patriarchal society and divides the book into sections on “daughters”, “wives”, and “mothers”. She has a lot to say about mothers: that section gets twice the number of pages as the other two sections combined.

Doyle has combed through pop culture, history, literature, fairy tales, myths, horror, true crime, sociology, and personal anecdotes to find examples and support for her theories, and when she does a deep dive into a topic (as she did on a number of girls and women, including Annelise Michel, Bridget Cleary, and Augusta Gein), or a critique of The Conjuring, it is fascinating and memorable. However, Doyle jumps around a lot, and it isn’t always clear how things are related.  Her writing flows well, and she does a nice job making it relevant and tying it to recent events.

If you’re looking for an enjoyable feminist take on monstrous women, you’ve found it.

The book includes an annotated list of works cited, endnotes, and an index.

 

Recommended.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sady Doyle’s premise is that female monstrosity is determined by patriarchy, which she describes as a social, cultural, and moral structure that is founded in men’s absolute power and control over at least one woman, generally through instilling fear in them.  Doyle contends that women who claim ownership over their voices and bodies are constructed as monsters because they violate social and biological norms that threaten men’s control over them. She identifies three key roles women fill in our patriarchal society, and devotes a section of her book to “daughters”, one to “wives”, and one to “mothers”. She chooses from a variety of literary, legendary, historical, and pop culture examples and stories to discuss female monsters, both fictional and real, that exist outside society (or are ostracized by society), and the female victims of monsters that the patriarchy requires.

Posted on February 1, 2021 by , Reply

WiHM: Gearing Up For Women in Horror Month? Take This Quiz!

Women in Horror Month starts tomorrow, and I thought I’d kick it off a day early to give you all the opportunity to try this quiz I made of books by women writers of horror published during this century. I looked at a lot of lists online, and as far as we’ve gone, it seems like there’s still a ways to go, particularly when we’re talking about horror for adults (the reverse is true with YA horror- it is almost completely authored by women). We need to be seeing new names on these lists, not just Mary Shelley and Shirley Jackson (as influential and talented as they are).

This is not an exhaustive list.  I couldn’t include everyone I would have liked, and some of these writers are prolific- I tried to include just one title for each author, which might not necessarily be their most well-known book. I did like seeing that there seems to be a fair amount of diversity, or at least more than there was. All of these were written since 2000, and most in the past ten years. The closer we get to the present, the more women writers of all kinds there seem to be!  At the same time, don’t be surprised if you have read fewer of these authors and books than you realize. Think of this as a jumping off point if you haven’t chosen a book yet to read for WiHM.

I’d love to see more suggestions! This is a great month to share your favorites, so tell me all about yours!

 

Posted on January 31, 2021 by , Reply

Graphic Novel Review: Daphne Byrne by Laura Marks, art by Kelley Jones

Cover art for Daphne Byrne by Kelly Marks

(Bookshop.com | Amazon.com )

Daphne Byrne by Laura Marks, art by Kelley Jones

DC Comics, 2020

ISBN-13:

Available: Hardcover, Kindle, comixology

 

Set in 1886 New York, Daphne Byrne is still in mourning over the death of her father and has been affected greatly upon his passing. She’s tormented at school by the popular girls. She’s grappling with her mother who has been seeing a medium who she knows is a fraud. Her mother is spending the little money they have left on trying to contact her dead husband. Daphne tries her best to expose the medium, only to earn the ire of them both. While all of this is going on, Daphne meets a supernatural entity, simply called Brother, who offers friendship and support to the sad girl. He also encourages Daphne to stand up for herself, inviting her to use his powers as a tool. This power becomes particularly useful when she discovers the utter betrayal committed by certain parties close to the family.

 

Daphne Byrne would be of interest to anyone who enjoys stories from this period. Something I noticed in the less favourable reviews out there regarded the setting, which also influenced some of the plot points such as the fraudulent medium. I loved the story and found Daphne to be an interesting character. The artwork helped in this. Jones has been drawing comics for a long time, and I recognized his work immediately from his work on Sandman. He lends an otherworldly quality to creatures and characters. At times Brother reminded me of a sinister Dream. Recommended.

Contains: blood, body horror, nudity, sex

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on January 30, 2021 by , Reply
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